A soldier sits with a therapist on May 20, 2022 in Illinois during Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental Health Awareness Month highlights resources available to Soldiers, Civilians and their families. This comes at a time when active-duty and veteran suicides are occurring at an alarming rate. (Greg Wilson via U.S. Army Sustainment Command)
More than 17 veterans will take their lives today. My fellow soldiers are nearly nine times more likely to die by suicide than in combat. In fact, four times as many post-9/11 veterans have lost their lives to the invisible wounds of war than we lost on the battlefield.
It is more important than ever that we recognize these truths. We must acknowledge our failures. We have failed active duty service members, veterans and their families. As an Army combat veteran and member of Congress, I especially take this call to action seriously. We must act for ourselves, for our brothers and sisters in service, and for our nation.
When we attend West Point or go through boot camp, we are taught how to push through the pain and discomfort. We are trained to put the mission before our own needs. That mindset served me well when I was in the military. It kept me safe, allowed my unit to operate as an effective team, and enabled us to accomplish what we needed to.
But, at the end of the day when we would take off our uniform, it was hard to break out of that mindset. I have come to understand it is imperative we do so. Every time the mission is done, we need to check in with ourselves. When you come out of a fight or combat, you do a body scan. Where am I hurt? What is not right? We should do the same for our minds. To be effective soldiers we must keep our minds sharp. To be good friends and loved ones we must be fully present.
Checking in with ourselves is not enough. We have to check in with our buddies, the men and women with whom we serve. Do not tell yourself there is someone else talking to them or taking care of them. We can never know for sure. Step up. Do not be afraid to ask the uncomfortable questions.
My fellow veterans, this applies to you too. Remember our time in the military was always focused on teams. Commands, formations, units; we were part of a larger group. The end of our military service is not a dispersal of that team. I have never heard a buddy of mine say he was frustrated or annoyed that someone he served with had reached out to check in on him. We need to be there to support each other through experiences we are uniquely equipped to understand.
When I ran for office, I saw it as an opportunity to step up these efforts on a national scale. I wanted to dedicate myself to finding solutions for service members, their families and veterans. When I arrived on Capitol Hill, I was fortunate enough to find a group of like-minded individuals in the For Country Caucus. As a bipartisan group of military veterans now serving in Congress, we are dedicated to finding compromise and fostering change. We use the skills we learned in the military to work together and get things done in an environment where that is not often the case.
We have consistently prioritized the mental health of our men and women in uniform and the veterans’ community by leading efforts to improve Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs mental health services.
Here in Washington, we have met pushback. When discussing the allocation of military spending, we have heard from our colleagues that money should be put toward more concrete things. In part, I agree. We must prioritize investment in tangible tools and supplies. But how effective is a new tank when the people operating it are not mentally equipped to do so? We must ensure our service members are prepared to use the tools our nation gives them.
As many of my fellow soldiers have done before, I studied the words of notable military leaders. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., a pivotal figure in World War II, said, “If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do … the body is never tired if the mind is not tired.”
I implore you to live by these words. Uphold them in your community and your relationships. To put the mission first we must prioritize the mental health of our service members and veterans. Stay strong.
Rep. Pat Ryan, a Democrat, represents New York’s 18th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the bipartisan For Country Caucus. He is a West Point graduate who served two combat tours in Iraq, earning two Bronze Stars.
